Nelligan : le chant du poète naufragé / André Gagnon-Michel Tremblay, March 2020

© Marc Hervieux / Nelligan / Jean-François Gratton, Shoot Studio / compagnie et cie 

Something wonderful happened this winter in Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde : a brand new production of Nelligan. This version of an acclaimed opéra romantique by André Gagnon (music) and Michel Tremblay (libretto) directed by Normand Chouinard has a subtitle: Le chant du poète naufragé (The Song of a shipwrecked poet). After a triumphant run in Montreal the opera went on a tour of the province. I saw the show in Drummondville’s Maison des arts Desjardins, having travelled 300 miles and crossed a country border for that. Here is why.

La route d'Altamont / Gabrielle Roy

La route d’Altamont is one of those quiet but profound books. It is fashioned as a book of memories, but it is a philosophical work centered around a theme dear to Roy’s nomadic heart: journey. Every character in this four-story cycle has le mal du départ.

La montagne secrète / Gabrielle Roy

***spoiler alert***
La montagne secrète by Gabrielle Roy is beautiful book about the nature of art and the essence of creativity. The choice of protagonist helps to deliver the message with the most clarity: he is a Canadian trapper by occupation and an artist by calling (which he is the last person to recognize). Pierre Cadorai (a meaningful surname!) is a no more a conventional artist than he is a hunter, but nevertheless he is a true and pure artist consumed completely by Art, that liberating and unforgiving force.

La fille de l'Ouest / Louise Dubuc (Montréal : Leméac, 2006)

 

La fille de l'Ouest takes the reader by the hand and transplants him/her right in the middle of the Quebec countryside. Yes, Louise Dubuc is obviously in love with Nature and understands it deeply. She knows how plants grow and how animals live, how food and love are made, how farms are run, how rivers get flooded, how the seasons bring change to Quebec's fields and forests and she writes about all this beautifully.

La Belle Bête / Marie-Claire Blais (Québec : Institut littéraire du Québec, 1959)

 

Cover of 1st edition of La Belle Bête, 1959. Source:
https://laurentiana.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/marie-claire-blais-la-belle-bete.html

Once upon a time there stood an evil farm where Hatred, Vanity and Vengeance ruled...  Marie-Claire Blais's La Belle Bête reads easy, but offers its reader no comfort, as the world of this Quebec author is cold and frightening. The characters are torn away by their passions, but the only true feelings here are hatred and envy, any positive feelings are either fake or selfish or borne by people who are either blind or mad (i. e. mentally blind). Physical beauty is one of the central themes (as the title implies), but it is always accompanied by a physical or mental flaw, and always - by a flawed soul. Yes,  in her novel Blais leaves no place for hope, no "crack" through which the light would get in. And yet it is an interesting work.

La détresse et l'enchantement / Gabrielle Roy (Montréal : Boréal Express,1984)

 … car c’est souvent en errant seule dans les villes inconnues que je suis le mieux arrivée – mais à quelque chose d’autre que ce que je pensais chercher et qui fut presque toujours meilleur.

(Gabrielle Roy, La détresse et l'enchantement)

 

La détresse et l'enchantement is a great autobiography of a woman artist.  And as any great biography it is both unique and typical. Actually it is unique and typical on not just one, but at least two levels.  The first level is a story of a young woman searching for her path in life, and the second is a story of a Manitoban French-Canadian in the first third of the 20th century, and both stories are relatable and extraordinary at the same time.

Des nouvelles d'Édouard / Michel Tremblay (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #4, 1991, Lemeac)

Of the 6 books from Chroniques du Plateau Mount-Royal series by Michel Tremblay Des nouvelles d'Edouard is my favorite. It is a striking book. When I took it in my hands after having read the previous three I thought this one would be another charmingly busy multi-figure anthropological canvas describing life in a certain area of Montreal. And the book indeed begins as expected. However soon it takes a completely different turn, changes genre and becomes a book on a solitary journey of self-discovery with most of the action taking place actually outside of Montreal and outside of the continent altogether.